Since the beginning of the year, rumors of Red Dead Redemption 2 have continued to surface on the internet, although Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive has not yet made an official announcement about it.
The latest rumors suggest that the announcement will arrive at this year's Gamescom in August. These rumors began because publisher Take-Two confirmed its appearance at the event, although the company was missing from this year's E3. This rumor also comes after someone supposedly leaked a map from the new game earlier in the year, suggesting that Rockstar was working on the sequel.
However, this rumor is just that: pure speculation. Here are a few reasons as to why Red Dead Redemption fans shouldn't get their hopes up for a sequel announcement just yet, at least at Gamescom. It's possible that a sequel will eventually come, but it's also likely that fans won't learn anything about it until 2018 or beyond.
Take-Two Has Other Games To Promote
Take-Two is a busy studio, and Red Dead Redemption is not its only franchise. The publisher has plenty of other new games to focus on, including Mafia 3, Civilization VI and the BioShock collection. Those three games are probably what its focus will be on at Gamescom.
Gamescom Isn't That Big This Year
The 2016 Gamescom is a small event: many of the big companies won't appear there, including Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. Why would Take-Two make such a huge announcement at such a low-profile event? If or when the new Red Dead Redemption gets announced, it will likely take place at a larger conference or convention.
Take-Two's Financial Projections Don't Mention It
There's not a single mention of a Red Dead Redemption sequel in any of Take-Two's financial projections, although the company does forecast one major spike in revenue for 2018: that spike probably has nothing to do with a Red Dead Redemption sequel, though. Take-Two has a lot of high-profile AAA titles that will bring in large amounts of revenue.
"Looking ahead, we expect to grow Non-GAAP revenues and earnings in fiscal 2018, based on our robust development plan that extends well beyond the current fiscal year," CEO Strauss Zelnick said during a company earnings call. "Rockstar Games is of course hard at work on some exciting future projects that will be revealed soon."
Of course, we won't know for sure until Gamescom happens in Cologne, Germany from Aug. 17 through 21.
